Vintage: Portraits of Norma Shearer – Silent Movie Star

Shearer appeared in a few silent movies, but her time in Hollywood coincided with the transition from silent films to sound. She took the lead in MGM’s second “talkie” in 1929. Its success bolstered her career, as did her 1927 marriage to studio chief Thalberg. He may have helped her obtain the lead in The Divorcee, the film that earned Shearer her sole Academy Award (she was nominated for six Oscars during her career).

However, Shearer did not rely solely on Thalberg’s influence. Even as she became more popular, she worked hard to prepare for her roles. Shearer appeared in many films with stage and literary connections, including Noel Coward’s Private Lives (1931), as Elizabeth Barrett Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1936).